I LIVE! Sorry folks, it's been a rather unpleasant month and my mother just got out of the hospital.

Andromeda Tonks was one of the first alerted to the fact that Azalea Potter-Black was very much alive when she was sent a notice from Gringotts about the upcoming wedding of "the current head of the Black Family", which Azalea had been kind enough to bring her back into.

Needless to say the old witch was very much interested in finding out where the hell her grandson was and why he never showed up to Hogwarts. She knew for a fact he had been sent an admission letter.

It would take less than a week for the news to hit the rest of magical England. Many had wondered what happened to the "Witch-Who-Survives" (among many other ridiculous titles) after the Final Battle of Hogwarts. Particularly her friends and the Weasley family.

It was worth paying the goblins to insure that the Head of the Black Family got her letter...whatever Azalea had done had made it impossible to track her down. The Ministry had even tried the same trick that got her roped into the Tri-Wizard tournament by using one of her old essays.

It failed, spectacularly and rendered several of the idiots into squibs as recompense for their stunt.

Andromeda had a vested interest in seeing her grandson... he was all she had left of her family, since Narcissa refused to speak to her after the war and Draco had his own failures to live with.

Three days later...

Viper took one look at the letter from Gringotts and winced.

It was address to the her official title as "head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black" and it was from Andromeda.

She was rather relieved the old witch just wanted to see Theo.

"Mama, do you have any idea what time it is?" yawned Theo. Ordinary Wizarding Levels were brutal and he had just come out of a study session.

"Little wolf, remember how I said that one day you would have to contact your grandmother Andromeda...?"

Theo sat up, wide awake.

"What happened Mama?"

"She contacted me through Gringotts. She wants to meet you... and she's agreed to use an 'accorded neutral territory' such as Gringotts."

Theo bit his lip.

"It's okay if I contact her through the goblins, right?" he said nervously.

"If you want, you can wait for us to finish our mission and come with you."

Theo nodded. It was only natural he was nervous about meeting his biological grandmother...after all, Viper had made it clear she wanted to keep him far away from the English as she could because they were not to be trusted.

She only had a few pictures of his mother Tonks and very few of Remus.

"I'll write a response in the morning," said Theo.

"Good boy. I'll let you know when we're due back."

He nodded before yawning even louder. Viper smiled.

"Get some sleep, little wolf."

Fon came up behind her as she ended the mirror-call.

"Do I dare ask what that is about?"

"Andromeda, Theo's grandmother, figured out how to contact me after all this time. To be fair, it never occurred to her to simply ask the goblins since all the other letters I got address to my old name went straight into an incinerator," said Viper, kissing him on the cheek.

"So Theo wants us to be there for support when he meets her?"

"I kept him away from England for his entire life...and I only had limited stories of his birth parents."

"Considering what they could have put him through because of his father, I don't blame you and I know he doesn't either."

"I really don't want this to open up the floodgates for the others..." sighed Viper. "Molly Weasley is enough of a headache on her own, to say nothing of how Hermione will likely react to the fact I haven't contacted them in over a decade without first saying goodbye."

Fon kissed her on the head and she leaned into him.

"If they really are your friends, they'll understand why you had to leave."

Theo practically glomped Viper when he saw her. It was shortly after the end of term for Beauxbatons, and this meeting was making him far more nervous than any of his O.W.L.'s could have.

Viper had her hood up and Fon was playing the part of the bodyguard. The trio went into the room Viper had rented specifically for this meeting, and less than five minutes after going inside, Andromeda arrived.

Theo looked up from his butterbeer and saw his grandmother.

"Azalea," she said calmly.

"Andromeda," Viper replied, nodding in reply. "Theo... meet your grandmother, Andromeda Tonks ne Black. Andromeda... this is Theo."

Andromeda's eyes soften when she looked at her grandson, who's hair flashed in a variety of colors before setting on a vibrant indigo.

"Ah... it's nice to meet you," he said shyly.

Andromeda eyed Theo, before her expression became that of open approval. She hugged him without preamble, which cut down on the tension a great deal. Theo leaned into the embrace without hesitation.

"So... why is it that it took fifteen years before I got to see my grandson? And in a Beauxbatons uniform, no less."

Theo looked abashed.

Viper's hood was down, and she looked Andromeda in the eye.

"You and I both know how the idiots in England treat werewolves before the war. The last thing I wanted to subject my son to was their stupidity simply because of Remus, and I didn't need any bigger reason to leave once I knew the war was over."

Andromeda, to her credit, didn't flinch at the gaze of Viper.

She sighed.

"I don't blame you for leaving like you did... Molly would have tried to give you any number of 'reasons' to stay, and Granger would have helped... but if anyone deserves freedom from our society it's you. At least you took your duties to your godchild more seriously than Sirius did when faced with the same decision."

Viper didn't wince at the reminder of how badly her godfather had screwed up.

"Why Beauxbatons though? Hogwarts was rebuilt after seven years, and I know Minerva sent the invitation to Teddy."

"Because I refuse to subject Theo to the same nonsense I had to put up with. You remember how bad the Slytherins got during the war, and while Theo didn't inherit Remus' curse, their children would have still gone after him because of his father. Besides, the gender ratio for Beauxbatons is skewed in the favor of the girls and Maxime has a zero tolerance policy for bullying because of creature inheritances. Theo certainly didn't have any complaints about the school once he hit puberty," smirked Viper.

Theo blushed heavily.

"Mama, you don't have to say it like that!"

"This coming from the same young man found in the middle of a very heavy petting session with four older girls with rather 'generous' assets with less than all their clothing on?" she shot back.

Theo's hair settled into a fiery red, as did his face.

"Oh dear magic, she told you about that?!"

"Theo, unlike Dumbledore, Madame Maxime actually keeps parents apprised of what their children are doing... I have entire lists of reports of what you get up to, including the minor pranks you pull," said Viper smugly. "And my threat of papering the entire school with your old baby photos still stands, by the way."

Fon hid his amusement behind his sleeve. Andromeda wasn't much better, she was openly trying not to laugh.

Most of their meeting, which moved to an outdoor cafe when their time ran out, was spent catching Viper up on the comings and goings of her old acquaintances.

She wasn't the least bit shocked Granger had married Ron, only to divorce him after having to deal with his mother's harping and his arrogance getting the better of him.

That had been a match made in hell from the start, and Viper had known it would end badly without her to buffer them from each other.

Viper was never more thankful for the fact she was a powerful Mist than the second Fon's sister decided to help with the wedding preparations.

In order to soothe some of the 'bad feelings' she had created by forcing the clan Elders to acknowledge her as a worthy match for Fon, she had readily agreed to a traditional Chinese wedding, right down to the red dress.

To be fair, she had no real preference one way or another to what sort of marriage ceremony they had so long as it was legal. Andromeda didn't take very long to get over the fact she had missed fifteen years of her grandson's life... Viper had taken multiple pictures and it was very obvious she had done everything in her power to raise him correctly...even if he was somewhat ignorant of pure blood customs.

Something Viper didn't care about since it didn't really make her money, and Theo could care less about. So long as he was polite and truthful, it all evened out in the end anyway.

Andromeda agreed to act in place of her parents and godfather... mostly because both of them had lost most of their family in the war, and due to the fact Viper needed someone from the Black family outside of just Theo to make it more official.

One look at the lists of flowers... Andromeda gleefully helped to create arrangements that subtly reminded people of the devotion Fon had for his future wife, and her absolute love for him, especially since Viper admitted to having only a passing knowledge of "Flower Language"... and she was ready to simply create a Mist illusion for the decorations.

Biyu was having none of it. This was her special day, she shouldn't have to result to Mist illusions and besides they didn't get to celebrate a big wedding like this often enough.

Viper shuddered. At this point she was just glad they weren't bringing Luce into it. At least not until the actual wedding.

"What about these?" said Biyu eagerly. Viper groaned at the massive list.

"Look, why don't you condense that (she waved that the foot long list with tiny ass print) into three or four options. I honestly don't care about the cakes so long as they taste good, and don't get me started on the flower arrangements. I can already tell this is going to be beyond expensive just to pay for it..."

"At least it's a relatively small wedding. Of course it doesn't hurt that you have yet to announce a date."

Viper smirked.

"Once we have the list narrowed down to something reasonable, then we can talk dates. Otherwise it'll be an even bigger hassle if we have to change last minute."

Biyu pouted, but agreed to cut down most of the list.

"How is Teddy handling this?" asked Andromeda.

Viper made a face.

"Who do you think helped Fon?" she said annoyed. "Theo gave Fon a list of things to try and what to avoid without me knowing. Including the flowers..."

Biyu's eyes suddenly gleamed.

"Oh? So what exactly did my dear brother do to get your favor?"

Viper blushed.

"Mostly it was the flowers. He kept leaving small flowers or little bouquets on my pillow, and sometimes my favorite treats like treacle tart or strawberries."

"What kind of flowers?" asked Andromeda intently.

"Yellow jasmine, thyme, nutmeg, blue violets..." she listed.

Andromeda's eyes gleamed.

"Sounds like he's quite the romantic."

Viper openly snorted.

"He asked Theo, who gave him a list of flowers to pick from and their meaning. Fon had no idea about the Victorian flower language until he called Theo for advice on what to leave."

Biyu snickered.

"Of course I didn't make it easy for him," said Viper.

"As well you should!" said Andromeda, amused. "A girl should make a man work for it, if they wish to court you properly!"

Biyu nodded in absolute agreement.

Viper snorted.

"Tell that to Reborn... it took him years of me making it clear I wasn't interested before he finally gave up, and that was only because I made it very apparent there was no way in hell he was getting into my pants unless he was willing to commit solely to me. I wasn't about to become another of his conquests."

"And what did my brother have to say about it?"

"Nothing. He waited for me to make the first move after Reborn finally took the hint before he started courting me openly. Of course he decided to be funny when he proposed."

"Oh?" said Andromeda.

"We were acting as decoys when he chose to propose and distract people from what Reborn was doing... it wasn't until hours later I realized he was actually being serious about it," said Viper in a huff.

Biyu started snickering.

"Is it true you called the Elder's bluff and took the snake they used?"

Viper rolled her eyes.

"They thought they could coerce Fon or myself by poisoning me with snake venom. Unfortunately for them, I'm immune thanks to that damn basilisk," said Viper.

"Wait...they actually tried to poison you before interrogation?" said Biyu horrified. They only did that to the most untrustworthy of people trying to buy their way into the clan's good graces.

"I take it that's not normal?" said Andromeda.

"It's only used on people they suspect will try to betray the clan once they have a foot in it. It's like they're blatantly saying that they think she's a spy or something, and if they brought Fon in..."

"Fifteen minutes, and five after that I called them on the fact they tried to poison me," said Viper helpfully.

"No wonder they offered to pay for the entire wedding. According to what my brother said, you made them acknowledge you as worthy of him and the clan," said Biyu in wonder.

"My record with the elderly generation is so horrible it's not even a good joke. I went into that interview fully prepared to kick their ass just because."

"Good. A Black should never submit to a weaker force, especially if they have enough tricks up their sleeve to have the upper hand," said Andromeda in dark approval.

Then again, she had been raised with this sort of thing in mind. Clearly Azalea had learned the sort of subtle power plays by instinct rather than being taught. Now Andromeda just needed to refine what she knew to be truly vicious.

Biyu shook her head in disbelief.